Apple Inc.'s next generation iPhone, dubbed iPhone 5, is facing too much of a competition from Android. It is being speculated that iPhone 5 is scheduled to launch in early September.

The latest rumor comes from the China Times, which says that Apple plans to produce 4 million units of the device following a production run of 400,000 test units. That's all to ready the device for a release in the second week of September.

Apple's iPhone 5 is also expected to boast of significant hardware and software upgrades. Upcoming iPhone 5 slated for release in September is expected to have 8-megapixel camera and A5 dual-core processor found in iPad 2 to give a stiff competition for other dual-core smartphones found in the market today. And a few analysts predict that the other features of iPhone 5 will most probably remain the same with minor tweaks, also it will most probably come without 4G and LTE support.

Other expected iPhone 5 features are:

-- A5 processor in the range of 1.2-1.5 GHz
-- Aluminum metal backing of the original iPhone instead of the current glass surface back piece
-- A teardrop design, like the new iPod Touch, with the top being thick and then tapering to a skinnier bottom
-- An improved antenna
-- More RAM, possibly 1GB
-- Better camera (perhaps 8-megapixel) with 1080p video playback and panaromic photo capture capability and an improved dual-LED flash unit
-- Bigger-edge-to-edge 3.7- to 4-inch curved glass screen (iPhone 4 has 3.5-inch screen)
-- A SIM-less design
-- 3-4 internal antennas for both GSM and CDMA networks
-- 4G connectivity
-- iOS 5, which will be true multitask capable and come with loads of new features such as News Stand, Reminders, Delta Updates and iMessage
-- Improved speech recognition features
-- Wireless charging capability
-- Better talk-time and standby time
-- Near Field Communication (NFC) technology
-- Panoramic photo capabilities and 1080p Full HD videos
-- Stronger gaming capabilities supported by multi-core A5 processor and Imagination Technologies' PowerVR Series6 mobile graphics processing architecture.

But does iPhone 5 have enough firepower to challenge the top 10 new 'super' smarphones that run on Google Inc.'s Android?

The top iPhone 5 contenders are: Samsung Galaxy S2, Google Nexus 4G, Motorola Droid 3, Motorola Photon 4G, Motorola Droid Bionic, HTC myTouch 4G Slide, HTC Blast, HTC Sensation 4G, HTC Evo 3D, and HTC Thunderbolt.

Take a look at top 10 iPhone 5 contenders by clicking start:

Samung Galaxy S2
Samung Galaxy S2 Samsung
Google Nexus Prime
Google Nexus Prime BGR
Motorola Droid 3
Droid 3 (called Milestone 3 in Europe and Asia) boasts of a 4-inch qHD touchscreen display (540x960 resolution), 5-row QWERTY keyboard, Gingerbread (Android 2.3) OS, dual core Tegra 2 processor, rear-facing 8-megapixel camera with LED flash and digital zoom, front-facing camera for video chat, 1080p HD quality video recording capability, 16GB internal storage (32GB total via microSD support), 512MB RAM, Adobe Flash 10 support, GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth, preloaded Quick Office, the all-in-one app for word documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, and true multitasking capability. Motorola
Motorola Photon 4G
Motorola Photon 4G Motorola
HTC MyTouch 4G Slide
HTC MyTouch 4G Slide T-Mobile
HTC Blast
The HTC Blast is a concept phone which reared its head in May. The phone sports a button less design with Hand Power technology to turn the phone on without using any button. The virtual buttons are hidden in landscape mode.HTC Blast has a 4.7-inch AMOLED screen with 1280x720 resolution. It is rumored to have a 12 MP rear-facing camera and a 3MP front-facing camera. It is powered by a beastly 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8660 processor.It has 1GB RAM with 32GB internal memory. HTC Blast weighs 5.82 oz and is 0.35-inch thick. It will feature Android 3.0 or Honeycomb. However, HTC Blast is a concept phone and it's not certain as to whether HTC will release this model. NAK HTC Blast
HTC Sensation 4G
HTC Sensation 4G rolled out in the U.S. on June 15 and is carried exclusively by T-Mobile for $199.99. HTC
HTC Evo 3D
HTC Evo 3D is the first glasses-free 3D phone from HTC. According to Engadget, “the EVO 3D is a well-made handset that improves upon the EVO 4G in terms of raw horsepower — as such, it lives up to its flagship status.”Evo 4G boasts of 4.3-inch screen (with 540x960 pixel resolution), 3D S-LCD capacitive touchscreen, multi-touch input method, touch-sensitive controls, accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, proximity sensor for auto turn-off, gyro sensor and HTC Sense v3.0 UI, 1GB RAM, 32GB microSD support, 3G connectivity, 5-megapixel camera (with dual-LED flash, autofocus and geo-tagging features), front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera for video chat, 1080p (2D) and 720p (3D) video capture capability, Android 2.3 OS (Gingerbread) and 1.2 GHz dual-core Adreno 220 GPU Qualcomm MSM8660 chipset processor. HTC
HTC Thunderbolt
HTC launched Thunderbolt 4G LTE smartphone at the CES 2011. The phone is described as "blazingly fast" which brings the freshness of Verizon's LTE network to the fore front and for some time, it was even outselling iPhone 4 at Verizon.The Thunderbolt packs in a 4.3-inch WVGA TFT display (with 800x480 pixel resolution), 8-megapixelcamera with dual-LED flash, 720p video capture capability, 1.3-pixel front-facing camera for video chat, single-core 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 Snapdragon processor, 8GB internal memory (expandable to 32Gb via microSD card), 768 MB RAM, Android 2.2 OS (Froyo) and HTC Sense UI.HTC Thunderbolt runs on Android 2.2 Froyo that could be upgraded to Android 2.3 Gingerbread. The ThunderBolt is the first phone on Verizon's network that uses a physical SIM card, versus MEID or ESN, for device authentication.HTC Thunderbolt is priced at $569.99 on full retail price, while the locked version with 2-year Verizon contract is $249.99. HTC
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